We are nearing the end of our hiring process. The woman who has emerged as the strongest candidate is very large and in order to travel by plane will need to use either first-class seating or two coach seats (I am also a large woman who barely fits in a coach seat, so I know with certainty that she will not fit in a standard seat).

My questions:

If we choose to hire her, what are our obligations for her travel? Should we plan on purchasing upgraded or extra seats for her? Should we purchase the usual seat an expect her to cover the additional cost on her own?

If we choose to hire her, how do we have a conversation with her about how we will handle purchasing flights (regardless of whether we pay or she does)?

If we decided to cover the additional cost of her travel, it would significantly increase our travel budget for this role. I’m not sure I can get approval for that from our finance department. But if she is the strongest candidate for the job, it seems wrong to not choose her based on her body size.

Can you help?

Answer:

I think if you hire her, you’ve got to assume that you’ll be buying two seats for her each time she travels. (I would not assume that you’ll need to buy business class tickets, which are usually significantly more expensive than two seats in coach.) It wouldn’t be reasonable for her to shoulder the cost of the extra seat each time; in a job with frequent air travel, she’d be paying quite a bit of money just to do her job.

Alison Green writes about workplace and management issues for The Business Journals. She writes the "Ask a Manager" website, dispensing advice on career, job search, and management issues. Previously she was the chief of staff for a national nonprofit lobbying organization, where she was responsible for day-to-day management. She lives in Washington, D.C.